Inheritance lawyers in Spain for foreign heirs
A relative has died in Spain and the estate is going nowhere: one sibling will not sign, a will has appeared that leaves you out, or you are told there is nothing left because everything was given away during their lifetime. Our inheritance lawyers run the whole matter, from the certificado de últimas voluntades (the central wills registry certificate) to registration at the Registro de la Propiedad (the land registry), and litigate before the civil division of the Tribunal de Instancia (the Spanish first instance court) when that is the only way to unblock the division. A lawyer registered with the Spanish bar tells you what the law gives you and how long you have to claim it.
What we handle
The will was made before you were born
Claim for unintentional pretermission, which annuls the appointment of heirs and reorders the estate, within four years of learning of the will (art. 814 of the Spanish civil code).
You have been disinherited on a false ground
Challenge in which the burden of proving the ground falls on the heirs, not on you, within four years of the succession opening (arts. 848 to 851 of the civil code).
You want to disinherit the child who abandoned you
Drafting the clause on psychological mistreatment, accepted as ill treatment in fact, and building the evidence in advance, because if it is not proved later the whole clause falls (art. 853.2 of the civil code).
A co-heir has refused to sign the division for years
Court ordered division of the estate with an appointed accountant and valuer, or removal of the executor who neither distributes nor accounts (arts. 782 to 789 LEC and arts. 904 to 910 of the civil code).
Your father put the assets in a sibling's name while alive
Valuation of the estate, collation and reduction of the excessive lifetime gifts that eat into your forced share (arts. 636, 654, 818 and 1035 onwards of the civil code).
The will was signed when they were no longer lucid
Nullity claim built on a retrospective medical report and clinical records against the presumption of capacity in the notary's assessment (arts. 662 to 666 and 685 of the civil code).
The estate has assets or heirs outside Spain
Determining the applicable law by habitual residence or by the deceased's own choice, plus the European Certificate of Succession (EU Regulation 650/2012).
How we work on it
We always start in the same place, even when the conflict looks obvious: death certificate, wills registry certificate, authorised copy of the will or the declaration of heirs, and a real picture of the estate with a land registry extract for each property and the bank balances at the date of death. Without that inventory there is no way to know whether the forced share has been eaten into, and that figure decides everything else. With it in hand the lawyer tells you which claim you have and how much time is left, which here is short and cannot be extended: four years for pretermission, for challenging a disinheritance and for annulling a will. A tax clock runs alongside and does not wait for the dispute, because Spanish inheritance tax is self assessed within six months of the death, extendable by six more if applied for within the first five, and it is worth knowing from the outset whether the proceedings you are about to start interrupt that deadline, because not every conflict does. Many estates are settled with a negotiated deed of division, and since 3 April 2025 that attempt at agreement is also a precondition for filing a claim (art. 5 LO 1/2025); when there is no way through, we apply for court ordered division before the civil division of the Tribunal de Instancia for the deceased's last domicile and stay with it until each asset is registered in your name.
Your matter is quoted after the consultation, because every case is different. The consultation fee is credited in full against the engagement if you go ahead.
Frequently asked questions
Can I be left nothing at all in the will?
Under the Spanish civil code, not entirely: two thirds of the estate are reserved for children and descendants, and can only be taken away on a ground of disinheritance listed in the law and actually proved. Watch one detail that changes the whole outcome: Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre, the Balearics, Galicia and the Basque Country have their own civil law, with different and sometimes far smaller forced shares. The first thing we check is which law applies.
One sibling refuses to sign. Can I force them?
Yes. Nobody is obliged to stay in an undivided estate, and any co-heir can apply at any time for court ordered division: the court appoints an accountant and a valuer, the assets are valued, lots are formed and the estate is divided, whether the blocking heir likes it or not. The right to seek division does not lapse, so you do not lose it by waiting, but every year of delay makes the matter more expensive.
The estate is in Spain but I live abroad. Do I have to travel?
You do not need to. We work with a power of attorney granted at a Spanish consulate or before a local notary with an apostille, and from there the firm acts for you in Spain. If the deceased was habitually resident in another country, or chose their national law in the will, EU Regulation 650/2012 decides which law governs the succession, and that is the first question that has to be answered correctly.
Can the lawyer be paid out of the estate?
Partly yes: the costs of the division incurred in the common interest of all the heirs are paid out of the estate, while those a single heir incurs in their own interest are borne by them. Where each item falls is decided case by case, and it is one of the points clarified in the consultation, 100 euros for half an hour or 200 euros for a full hour, credited in full against the engagement if you go ahead.
Law firm guides on this area
The dispute explained: what action lies, what deadline is running and what has to be proved.
- Left out of your father's will: the preterición claim
- You were disinherited on a false ground: how to strike it down
- Disinheriting the child who ignores you: psychological abuse
- A sibling is blocking the division: judicial division
- Your father gave everything away in life: reducing that gift
- Your mother made a will with dementia: annulling it
- The executor neither divides nor accounts: how to remove him